Claude Sautet - A French master filmmaker that's not that well known for his Crime movies as for his elegant chamber piece dramas,
but i rate him higher than the Hitchcock inspired Claude Chabrol and Francois Truffaut. I prefer the french director's who weren't
that much involved with the Franch New Wave, as Claude Sautet and Jean-Pierre Melville, auteur filmmakers needing no dogma
rules. Melville with films like 1956 Bob le flambeur, 1967 Le Samourai and 1970 Le Circle Rouge, and Sautet (1924-2000) with films
as 1960 Classe tous risques, 1970 Les choses de la vie (The Things of Life), 1980 Un Mauvais fils (på svenska "Rötägget") with
the great and tragic Patrick Dewaere, an amazing but seldom seen and underrated film, and ... 1971 Max et les ferrailleurs.

Max Sets a Trap

This is a Crime Drama with some neo-noirish vibes and with great performances from Michel Piccoli and Romy Schneider, with
Schneider on her way "up" from glossy romantic films into euro art movies and Piccoli, what to say? He's one of the greatest
film actors Ever. The film starts with 2 policemen talking (Georges Wilson and a young Philippe Leotard) .... "Max was no ordinary
policeman" and then follows the Flashback to tell us the movie story (a tired old cliché admittedly).

Luminous Lily and Max (Romy Schneider and Michel Piccoli)

Max is a crime police inspector and he's tired of the criminals always getting away and never being caught. There has been a
series of brutal bank-robberies with dead victims and the bad guys always seems to be one step ahead of the police and
Max wants them in jail. He's rich and don't need the salary or to work, but he's motivated by seeing criminals being caught.

So, next time Max plans to be the one being one step ahead, and he sets a trap. He meets an old friend from the Military,
Abel (Bernard Fresson) and he finds out that Abel is working in a junkyard, he's a scrap merchant and he's in a gang of
small time criminals. If Max can't get the brutal "real" bankrobber gang he can get these guys, if he can get them to try and
rob a bank. He plans this meticulously and he becomes a customer of Abel's girlfriend, Lily the prostitute and tells her
that he's working at a small local bank and that they've a lot of money lying around. The Trap is set.

Max is a very controlled man and he never ever looses his cool .... wait for the great ending of this film. Piccoli was a genius.

US Kino Lorber presents this film in a 1.66:1 ratio and with french DTS-HD MA audio with english subtitles, region A.
Extras: Audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan and a Trailer